Nigeria's U-20s Trip To Spain Delayed Once Again

Nigeria's trip to Mallorca, Spain, for final preparations ahead of the FIFA Under-20 World Cup has been put off again, Goal.com has exclusively gathered.

The team, who were originally scheduled to leave last week for Spain but could not because of a delay in the issuance of their entry visas to Europe.

They were then slated to depart the country on Thursday afternoon after they secured the visas only for the players to be informed late Wednesday that the trip has been put on hold for a couple more days.

No team official was ready to volunteer an explanation for this delay, but it is widely speculated to have to do with logistics and finances.

The squad of 30 players was to have flown out from the country's commercial capital of Lagos.They have already been joined by several Europe-based players like Odion Ighalo of Udinese, Rabiu Ibrahim from Sporting Lisbon and Nnamdi Oduamadi of AC Milan. Players like Macauley Chrisantus of Karlsruhe and Monaco's Lukman Haruna will join the team in Spain.

Coach Samson Siasia has refused to release King Osanga to his club Heartland for their CAF Champions League Group B match against Etoile diu Sahel this weekend in Sousse.

On Wednesday, the team rounded up their training at home with a 2-0 victory over the country's Under-17 squad, who are also getting set for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in October.

The Flying Eagles, as Nigeria's youth team are known, opened scoring in the 61st minute through a penalty kick converted by Gbolahan Salami after Osanga was brought down inside the box.

The team doubled their advantage in the 90th minute with a beauty of a goal by Romania-based striker Fatai Kehinde.

The final squad for the World Cup in Egypt will be picked in Spain and head direct to Cairo in September.

Nigeria are slated to face Spain, Venezuela and Tahiti in the first round of the tournament.

Samm Audu, Goal.com